Msindisi Newsletter # 106

SALVADOR & DIANNE’S MSINDISI MONTHLY

NUMBER: 106 Jun 2013

PO BOX 1481
VRYHEID 3100
KWAZULU NATAL
SOUTH AFRICA

+27 (0) 728311008
+27 (0) 815836288

Email: msindisi@gmail.com ,
salv.di@gmail.com

KwaZulu Mission Website: http://www.kwazulumission.com

June has been hectic ………but full of many blessings!!!!

As you know at the beginning of June we said our farewells to Caleb after his 2 week stay with us. While returning from Joberg our truck had problems with the fifth gear so we ended staying on in Vryheid for a few days. Di was to be sharing with some ladies in Louwsburg on the morning of the 6th but thanks to friends who lent their son’s bakkie she was able to get there. She spoke on the importance of knowing God and abiding with Him.

When leaving Joberg Di got a sinus infection and, although the infection has cleared up, it has left her with blocked ears over the whole month. Sal ended up doing the care bear teaching and kids club on the Saturday by himself for that week.

On the Tuesday 18th Jannie Viljoen from the Bethany Baptist church came and shared with the bible study. This was a special meeting as he shared on sanctification. Everyone was able to attend that week and along with Sam, Girlie’s daughter.

The rest of the month was preparing, fetching, and organizing for when our visitors from Lyndhurst baptist church arrived on the 22nd. Tshepiso the youth leader had organized a group of 19 to come but on the day 13 came. We had been praying for fine weather as we thought they would have to tent it due to lack of accommodation available. However our neighbour very kindly offered her round hut for the guys to sleep in while Thabi had some girls in their hut and Di had some girls in theirs. The only 2 people who needed tents was Robert, the pastor, and Sal. They arrived on the Saturday 22nd and left Wednesday 26th.

After settling in on the Saturday it was time for supper and an evening devotion lead by Sal. Sunday arrived, bright and early for some of us, then everyone walked over to the church at Celani’s home. We had a lovely time of singing and sharing then Phumlani preached a wonderful message on the world’s wisdom and Gods wisdom with a special challenge to be witnessing for Christ. This was translated into English. After returning some of the brethren back to Alpha, and fetching more water, we headed back home for lunch. The afternoon was a time of sharing and relaxing, playing games, lighting the braai for toasties to be cooked on that night and for singing around. That night Rob shared the devotion.
Monday had been set aside for helping Tholakele and her 4 children. She had already started work on a mud hut and we thought as a group we could help this move on quicker for her. Sadly on the Thursday 20th we heard that her husband had passed away. He had been absent from the family since mid last year as he had gone to find work. Everyone set to work with Phumlani being ” the boss ” for the day. Sand was fetched from a small river close by. Sadly that day there was no water available in Alpha from their community tap so it had to be fetched from East mine, about 10 kms away. We had collected cement earlier in the week. Everyone set to work with some of the other church members also arriving to help from the area. It proved to be a very hot day. By 2.30 the work was finished for the day. So it was back to the kraal to get toiletries and head into town for showers, good food, and a bible study with other young ones from the baptist church. Jannie shared about ” knowing the will of God for your life.”

Tuesday was teaching kids club in the morning where 40 kids eagerly arrived. In the afternoon some who understood Zulu went with Phumlani for discipling in Alpha, while others went with Di to give out tracks with jumpers, hats and toys. Once back we all headed up to Johnny and Kim’s for our normal Tuesday night study which Sal was teaching through a series on marriage. Thinking that after our return home they would be exhausted, we were proven wrong. Apparently any last night they must stay up till after midnight!!! As you can imagine us older ones and the drivers went to bed earlier.

Wednesday 26th they left about 9 am, many laughs and friendships had been made. Many had been encouraged in the word. It was a blessing having them with us. Clean up, pack up and returning everything took place over the next few days, with prayer meeting on the Wednesday evening in town at 5.30.

Sal had to drive Tholakele through to Nongoma on the Friday morning leaving home at 6 so she could attend the funeral of her late husband, that evening it was bible study at Johnny and Kim’s. Come Saturday we were both grateful for a day of rest. We house sat at Belinda’s as Sal was preaching at the Baptist church on the Sunday morning.

In the last newsletter we wrote about Salvi’s visit of Zandile and her acceptance of the Gospel and repentance. Salvi called her acouple of weeks ago and she confessed that she had gotten rid of all her ancestral and witchcraft things and had experienced great peace and joy since the time of her commitment. Salvi went to visit her today during her lunch break, and given her some teaching. They talked about home life and some of the implications of following the Lord as the only believer in the home and they have committed to praying for her husband. Please pray that Zandile will have opportunity to witness to her husband and that Salvi may also be able to visit him in the future. Please pray for his salvation.

Please enjoy the photos displayed at the end of the newsletter.

The month of July we hope to have a slower month, however ……. The addition to our hut is now starting. Foundation has been poured. We will be going to Stanger for a week, for some relaxation and ministry work before Mark Van Niekerk heads away to Israel for a prolonged mission trip. A Congress on Revival, with old style revivalist preaching, is later in the month and we will be going with Jannie and his wife Glenda.

Please can you pray for:

Tholakele that she will press into the Lord over this difficult time of loss. She would stand firm in her faith if pressure comes on to do ancestor worship.

Give thanks for a gift towards Zulu bibles.

That Girlie and John who have felt lead by the Lord to undertake the addition of two rooms to our hut will be blessed with wisdom.

Give thanks for kids at kids club, may the lord bless His word to them.

That the members of the church and cell groups would continue to press into the Lord.

For Zandile in her new faith and for the salvation of her husband.

Many thanks again for your constant support in prayer. May the lord strengthen us as we all labour on together.

May the lord bless and keep you all. Until next month !!

Shalom

 

 

PSALM 23

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD.

This psalm is probably one of the most well known portions of scripture, along with Lord’s prayer and John 3: 16. It is recited at funerals and added to cups, bookmarks and all kinds of merchandise to be sold as gifts. It is poetic, it is lyrical. We sing it, we recite it and we pray it. But I want to ask, do we know it? Do we understand the imagery? Do we grasp it’s message? Have we experienced the reality, the leading of the Great Shepherd of our lives? Is Salvador Ung Hayworth acting as a sheep in Christ’s flock? Is the Lord really the shepherd in Salvador’s life? Or is this psalm just a nice poem to be recited on special occasions?

I asked these questions because in this psalm we are dealing with the very character of God. The living God is a shepherd, and as such He has every right and privilege to interrupt our schedule. He can interfere with our ideas and can redirect our plans to fall into accord with His own will. This psalm is deeply personal because it says “The Lord is MY shepherd”. Let’s open our hearts before the Lord in sincerity, honesty and truth. That shepherd knows your condition so don’t lie to Him. As a shepherd He is to lead us and we are to follow Him. In this psalm we see His provision, His care, His leading, His discipline, His equipping, His perseverance and His destination. David wrote this psalm out of his own experience of being a shepherd, looking after his father’s sheep. He would take them from place to place, from oasis to oasis, looking for good pasture and where there was water. He would fight off the wolves and lions and then in the end he would present them back to his father. And he would have to give an account for every single sheep. As David looked at his situation, I imagine that he said, “Hang on, that is how God is with me. He provides, He protects, He preserves and He knows me by name.” As Jesus said in John 10: 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” Jesus looks after His Father’s sheep. And that is the first point I want to bring out. “The Lord is MY shepherd.” You can’t live off another person’s faith. You can’t hide behind a church, or a parent, or a preacher, or a pastor. Jesus knows His sheep by name and they know Him. Do you know Jesus? Is He leading you? Is He in control of your life?

And what else do we know of God’s shepherding nature? In the first verse we read that it is the Lord who is my shepherd. The word Shepherd here is the same word as pastor. It means the same thing, i.e someone who tends and feeds sheep. Now we know that the scripture dictates that God gives pastors and teachers to the church, (Ephesians 4: 11) so it is imperative that we have pastors in the church. But whether we have one, two or three pastors or we don’t have any, let us never forget “The Lord is my shepherd.” What comfort this is when we lack that person to whom we can turn, to whom we can take our lead from. Let us be content in the fact that the Lord is my shepherd. And He is the Lord. That name in Hebrew is the tetragram, the Holy name of God. We know it as Yahweh. We commonly pronounce it as Jehovah. It is the name of which God said “You shall not take the name of Yahweh, your God in vain.” If you have a literal translation of the Bible, such as NASB or the New King James you will have the word LORD printed with every letter capitalized and that indicates that it is referring to the name Yahweh. Yahweh or Jehovah comes from the Hebrew word ‘Hayah’ which means ‘to be’. God is the ‘I am that I am’, or the ‘I will be that which I will be’. He is self sufficient. He doesn’t need anything or anyone in order to exist. When He made us it wasn’t because He had to fulfill a need for relationship or for family. As Francis Schaeffer put it, God could never have been lonely because he is a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and therefore He already had perfect communion. And because he is the ‘I am’ then the next phrase makes perfect sense.

The one who doesn’t need anything, the all sufficient one is my shepherd. Therefore I shall not want. I shall not lack. He’s still providing everything that I need. That I need. You can never stop needing more in this life. The rich can still get richer. I may have a lot of money and possessions but that doesn’t make me rich in God’s eyes. If My heart is set on these things than I am the poorest man alive. Didn’t James say that the brother of humble means, (the Christian that lives in the tin shack on the squatter camp), is to glory in his high position, and the rich man, (the one with the million Rand mansion), is to glory in his humiliation? All these things will fade away. The Rich man will fade away. (James 1: 9 – 11) Paul said that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and some by longing for it had wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But what does Paul say in 1 Timothy 6: 6? Godliness with contentment is great gain. Jesus said “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you”. What are the ‘these things’ that Jesus was referring to? Our food and our clothes. Matthew 6: 19 – 34 is not speaking about the addition of perceived needs or concerning luxuries, but about bare necessities. Just because God is liberal and gives us more than we ask many times should not cause us to misread Jesus words in Matthew 6. God is not promising the luxuries but the bare necessities which would have been a pressing concern for the people to whom Jesus was speaking who did not know if they would have enough food tomorrow. It was so natural to worry and yet Jesus told them not to. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” Do we believe that this? Do we trust Him implicitly to bring us what we need when and as He sees fit? Do we keep praying with that trust with patience or do we give up, or get frustrated with God? I know that I have struggled in this area. And so now, do I think I know better than God? Is my agenda more important than His? What is on His agenda? Let us read.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He makes me lie down there. It wasn’t my idea. God has given us the Word of God to feed us, to strengthen us and to sanctify us. He helps us, humbles us and challenges us to get into the Word. May be this message is one of the ways by which He will do that. Maybe you have been out of the Word for a while, living on other people’s sermons and therefore there is an emptiness in this area. You’ve got to chew the cud yourself. He can make you lie down there but you got to chew it yourself. And the grass is green, it is pure. God’s doctrine, His teaching, is right and therefore we must test the words of our preachers against the plumb-line of scripture itself. We must always get back to the gospel of what Christ did in securing our salvation, the price that He paid and of the resurrection. Pure milk and fresh meat. But not just the Word but also the still waters.

Water is representative of two things in scripture. Firstly in the context of living, or flowing, waters it is representative of the Holy Spirit. John 7: 37 – 39. Secondly it is representative of the Word of God. Ephesians 5: 25 & 26. The Spirit and the Word go together. The Holy Spirit will always confirm the Word of God. That is why we need to come to the Word with an honest and open heart because the Holy Spirit will try to tell us something and as Hebrews 3: 7 – 9 says “Today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts.” Don’t harden your hearts, don’t be deceived by the deceitfulness of sin. Let us encourage one another, day after day, as long as it is still called ‘today’. And what else does it say about these waters? They are still, they are quiet. They are not raging, dangerous torrents that will suddenly sweep away the sheep. When Paul gave instructions to the Corinthian Church concerning the meetings, he wrote 1 Corinthians 14: 26 – 33. The church of Corinth was like a charismatic church but with a sound understanding of the gospel message. Yet they were very carnal, very fleshly and their meetings we’re just pandemonium. They were full of self love and self promotion and lacked the love to build one another up. So Paul had to sort it out. Many of them would speak in different languages all at the same time, presumably to show off. But Paul said ‘No, this is not on.’ Two or at the most three should speak in a language, each in turn and not without an interpreter’. And why Paul give this command? Because God is not a God of confusion. The Holy Spirit isn’t going to barge in and stir us all up into a complete frenzy and leave us dazed. He often speaks in a still small voice. The waters are still and they are in connection with the green pastures, the Word of God. And maybe we haven’t heeded Him. Maybe we have blown it. Even though we might be saved we still have got our hands back onto the steering wheels of our lives. If you are in this category let this next verse bless you.

He restores my soul. That word ‘to restore’ means that He brings you back to repentance. And note this word is in the present tense. It always is in the present tense. It doesn’t say that once upon a time he restored my soul. No matter where I have been before He can still restore my soul. And when I repent I’m not just turning away from sin but I am also turning towards something else. Read on, He leads me in the paths of righteousness. And this is for His name’s sake. We sing the song ‘Jesus take me as I am’, beautiful and truthful as that is. We say ‘Jesus accepts you as you are’. But we get duped into thinking that Jesus is happy with the way we are. But the truth is that Jesus is not happy with the way we are. If He was happy with the way we are then He wouldn’t have gone to the cross to satisfy God’s anger against our sin and take our punishment. He accepts us as we are on the basis of His own sacrifice, His own righteousness and goodness and He means to change us. This is the path He has chosen for us. There is no other option. We can’t ‘hop scotch’ our way to heaven, and throw our coin to avoid certain squares we don’t want to touch. If we want Salvation we must go by His ordained way. He is Holy, separate from sinners, in His own league, high above everything else and He says ‘be holy for I am holy’. However we don’t strive to be holy in order to be saved but we strive to be holy because He is our shepherd. We are not holy so that we can be called Christians but rather living a life holiness is part of what we signed up to when we became Christians. As Paul said, ‘Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?’ The point of grace is not to make us sin more but to deliver us from a life of sin.

But what does the next verse say? We go through the valley of the shadow of death. The shadow of death speaks of death itself. It is to do with being in a place of utter darkness where there is no light. It is a place of terror. In Job 28:1-4 Job speaks of it in connection with a mine deep in the earth, a place away from the light, away from life, away from warmth. It is a terrifyingly profound place. In Jeremiah 13: 16 Jeremiah speaks of it as a judgment from God. A place where people are brought to stumbling. And sometimes we go through these situations where everything is upside down, where we are stumbling in our walk, where there is no light and we can’t perceive the Lord. Sometimes it is because of our sin that we go through it and other times it is just like Job’s situation, a result of the spiritual battle in the heavenlies. We don’t understand it and we cry out “Where are you Lord?” But don’t be afraid. He is with you. Maybe he has to bring out His rod. He can be harsh. Hebrews 12: 4 – 11. He must discipline us at times and it isn’t pleasurable. That is why it says in verse 7 that you ‘endure’. If it wanted to imply pleasure it would have used the word ‘enjoy’. But remember that love is the basis of His chastisement. And remember that He comforts us. A good shepherd will use his rod to protect the sheep and fight the wolves, the false teachers who try to make merchandise of the flock, who bring another gospel. And sometimes He guides us with His staff. Randall Smith taught that when a lamb is growing up it lacks the sense to stay away from danger. It runs off and may lead others astray, so therefore the shepherd must come up the lamb and he takes the rod and guess what he does? He breaks the lamb’s legs. It seems so cruel and yet after the break the legs he then sets the lamb upon his shoulders and carries the lamb until the legs are mended. And after the legs are restored the lamb knows not to run away. And I bet you something, I bet that the lamb did not understand what was going on while its legs were bruised. The bruising sure does hurt but when the shepherd has broken the little lambs leg He has taught him to stay near Him and away from danger. Then the shepherd can strengthen and guide His flock with more gentleness. He tells us ‘this is the way, now walk in it.’ His grace is there in the good times and in the bad. Even when there are wolves around, the sheep still sit down to eat. The table is set in the midst of our enemies.

Yes, we are to be aware because Satan is roaming around. But we trust our shepherd. Even in the midst of our enemies the Holy Spirit can give us the words to say. Didn’t Jesus say to his disciples not to worry beforehand what they would say when they are brought before rule is because of Jesus’ sake. But the Holy Spirit would give them the words they would have to say in that hour. We have an anointing from the holy One who teaches us all things. This psalm says that my cup runs over. It overflows. Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Be controlled by Him. As C H Spurgeon said “Every Christian is a priest, but he cannot execute his priestly office without unction.” Because God has more on His agenda than just having us do a specific task, or to be involved in a certain ministry. As Dave Hunt wrote, ‘what God can do in us is just as important as what He can do through us’. He can do abundantly far more than we can even ask, think or imagine. God has more on His agenda. He intends to make us like Jesus. The Spirit of God is working in us to produce his fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness faithfulness and self control, to sum it up in a word Christ-likeness. And if this is what we desire, if we would go home and submit to the Shepherd, to His Word and His Spirit, then look at what this psalm promises us. That goodness and loving kindness will follow us all the days of our life. That word, ‘loving kindness’ i Hebrew is the word ‘Chesed’. It means grace, mercy, favor. In means faithfulness to His covenantal promises. Not a compromising loyalty that refuses to offend or take a stand in order to please the person concerned but a loyalty to His promises and His covenant. God is a God of His word. Isn’t this the goodness of God? People ask, ‘what has God ever done for me?’ But He has done more than we could ever deserve. ‘But that was 2,000 years ago, what has that to do with me today?’ But Jesus died on the cross because our sins. Is there sin in our cities or towns today? Is there sin in your life and in my life today? Are you not a sinner? Then how can you ask, what has that to do with me today? It has everything to do with you. His goodness and lovingkindness will follow us, literally will chase after us all the days of this pilgrimage through this wilderness of the World. And what is our life? It is just a breath, a passing vapour. Here today and gone tomorrow. When I lived in KwaZulu Natal the first time, outside our property and just down the road there was a man fixing his lorry. He worked for Mondi forests and he drove lorries hauling big logs. And as he was fixing the Lorry, I don’t know how, but he was crushed by the falling logs and he died. A friend of mine, Joe Rumley, who was visiting me at that time stated “I bet when that guy woke up this morning he didn’t think that today he would meet his Maker.” Our lives are short.

Guess what? This life is not it. We must be heavenly minded. We must keep looking for that heavenly city built without human hands. We should be looking for the things that remain for eternity. God is going to shake not only the earth but the heavens and all the temporal things are going to be destroyed. If our lives are built upon the passing pleasures of this life they also will fall apart. Look at Psalm 46. ‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. She shall not be moved’. There is a house, a home forever and this house is called the house of the Lord. Do you want that security, that sense of the belonging? Do you want to share in something that will last? I know I do. Then let us keep looking to the Lord for our provision, for our care, for our discipline, for our protection, and let us keep heading in that direction that he leads us in. And for you who are looking for a pastor. Look for someone who will emulate these qualities. Someone who will know the sheep by name and not stand aloof from the congregation. Someone who will give good food from the Word and who is sensitive to the leading of the Spirit. Someone who is concerned With holiness and righteousness. Someone who will bring correction if there needs to be discipline but is always ready to carry and bind the broken with a tender heart. Someone who will chase away the wolves who tried to fleece the sheep and who bring another gospel. Someone who is willing to go through the hard times with his flock and to be there for them. Someone who will promote the good of his congregation. And lastly, someone who will promote and encourage an eternal mindset to the people so that they may look forward to living in the house of the Lord forever.